Faculty of Biological Sciences

Research Bulletin

White Rose universities launch new bioscience PhDs

24th January 2012

A successful collaboration between the universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York has attracted £6 million to create a joint Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) in mechanistic biology.

The White Rose University Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership in Mechanistic Biology will support world-class molecular bioscience, as well as strategic research in the areas of food security, bioenergy and industrial biotechnology.

Announced today (January 24), the investment from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) will fund a total of 60 studentships, with each studentship receiving around £100,000 over four years. The program will run for three years, with the first intake of students starting in October 2012.

In recognition of the importance of biosciences research and student education, the White Rose University Consortium will also fund three additional PhD studentships a year, and individual universities will also provide one further studentship a year from their own budgets. The combined additional support to this program from the universities will be 18 studentships - bringing the total to 78 new studentships.

Academic leadership is joint across all three institutions, with the University of Leeds taking the administrative lead. Students can apply to any of the White Rose universities to take part in the program.

The White Rose University Consortium is one of 14 DTPs at 44 research organisations across the UK awarded a share of £67 million by the BBSRC following a competitive bidding process.

The White Rose programme will be partnered by DEFRA research organisation the Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera), and the Research Complex at Harwell.

Professor David Westhead from the Faculty of Biological Sciences at the University of Leeds, who led the successful joint bid, said: "Having a shared postgraduate training programme in biological sciences across three universities has enormous benefits that haven't previously been available to students, such as accessing other universities' equipment and expertise. This significant award recognises our commitment to broad-based scientific and professional development for our PhD students."

Dr Julian White, Chief Executive of the White Rose University Consortium said: "This initiative will generate a cohort of highly trained, pro-active, adaptable and enthusiastic students able to apply their skills to national and global challenges".

Professor Simon Foster of The University of Sheffield's Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, said: "The award demonstrates the value of our excellent post-graduate training and will provide the framework for our future research potential."

Professor Deborah Smith, Head of Biology at the University of York, said: "We are very pleased at York's success in this competition for postgraduate funding that will allow us to build on existing training programmes and enhance research collaborations with our partner institutions in Yorkshire."

Professor Robert Edwards, Fera Chief Scientist, said: "In addition to the three White Rose Universities, the Food and Environment Research Agency is a partner in the DTP as part of its interest in supporting work on Food Security. The inclusion of Fera will also represent an important forum within the consortium for training in translational agrifood research".

Professor Simon Phillips, director of the Research Complex at Harwell (RCaH), said: "The RCaH is a multidisciplinary laboratory adjacent to the world-class central facilities at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, including the Diamond synchrotron, ISIS neutron source and Central Laser Facility. This important DTP partnership with the White Rose universities will give postgraduate students access to training in the latest techniques in advanced biophysics by international experts using cutting edge equipment."

An innovative and integral element of the programme, built in to enhance the employability of the DTP students, is the requirement for them to undertake a three-month professional internship outside of the lab to widen their experience of the areas of work in which they can apply their PhD skills and training. Destinations for these internships will include policymaking, media, teaching and industry.

Everyone knows that we eat too much - we're bombarded with warnings about the obesity epidemic every day. But all those extra calories are not only a threat to our waistlines; they're a threat to global security as well.

Sustainable intensification - the policy of increasing food production from existing farmland without further harming the environment - is feasible on commercial British farms, according to a new study.

A new study, using genetic analysis to look for clues about human migration over 60,000 years ago, suggests that the first modern humans settled in Arabia on their way from the Horn of Africa to the rest of the world.

Faculty scientists have discovered levels of a specific enzyme are raised in the brains and blood of people with Alzheimer's disease. It's hoped their findings could be used to help clinical trials for new treatments for the disease.

They may only be 1.5mm in size, but the tiny wasps that pollinate fig trees can travel over 160km in less than 48 hours. The fig wasps are transporting pollen ten times further than previously recorded for any insect.

Mosquitoes with the potential to carry diseases lethal to many unique species of Galapagos wildlife are being regularly introduced to the islands via aircraft, according to new research published today.

Dr Stan White has been appointed to the Grants and Fellowships committees of Kidney Research UK (KRUK). Kidney Research UK is the leading UK charity funding research that focuses on the prevention, treatment and management of kidney disease.

The audience at today's 'Celebrating the Games' lecture heard from Dr Ed Coats how he and his teamates - James Cracknell and Ben Fogle - are preparing to test this limits of human endurance in the most inhospitable continent on earth: the Antarctic.

Dr Bill Hughes of the University of Leeds'Faculty of Biological Sciences has been awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize in Zoology. These prizes, worth £70,000, are awarded to scholars under the age of 36 who are judged to be outstanding in their field.

England?s top rugby league players are being exposed to an Australian-style climate at the University of Leeds ahead of this month?s forthcoming Rugby League World Cup 2008, which kicks off on 25 October.

Bioscience Horizons, the Leeds-sponsored journal showcasing the best undergraduate bioscience research has been awarded a Highly Commended certificate by the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) for publishing innovation.

The UK-China Membrane Biology Initiative led by the University of Leeds recently celebrated its first birthday by successfully hosting the 2nd international symposium on "Membrane Biology: Structure, Signalling and Neuroscience" at the University of Leeds

The University of Leeds Transformation Fund will bring together researchers from medicine, plant science, ecology, social policy and the environment to focus on preventing future food crises in Sub-Saharan Africa.

One of the UK's most successful academic entrepreneurs has teamed up with the University of Leeds to offer outsourced research and development in membrane biology to pharmaceutical, biotech and agrochemical companies.

A scientist at Leeds whose research is challenging conventional thinking on how the cholesterol-reducing drugs statins benefit cardiac patients, has secured funding to further investigate her findings.

The onset of a new Leeds-China collaborative initiative in membrane and neurobiology was marked by a joint symposium on 'Membrane Biology: Structure, Signalling and Neuroscience', held at Beijing (Peking) University between May 18th and 20th, 2007

The Skin Research Centre at the University of Leeds, which has led the way in the treatment of acne, eczema and other skin conditions, is the only University skin microbiology laboratory in the UK to receive the international quality standard ISO 17025.

A special symposium was held on Monday 5th of March to mark the establishment of the first virtual-laboratory between Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (Beijing) and the Centre for Plant Sciences.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is the largest investor in research for the Faculty, awarding a total of 25 grants to the value of £4.82 million for the academic year 2005-2006.

A historic agreement has been signed in Beijing by Faculty's Pro-Dean of Research Professor Phil Gilmartin and his Chinese counterpart Professor Yongbiao Xue to setup the first virtual laboratory between Leeds and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Postdocs from the Institute of Membrane and Systems Biology attended the first ever PostDoc Away Day, an initiative setup to give postdocs the opportunity to meet each other, present their research and share ideas.

Mary Phillips-Jones (Astbury Centre) is the organiser of a symposium entitled "Imaging microbial systems: from whole micro-organism to single molecules" at the September meeting of the Society for General Microbiology.

Jim Deuchars has been appointed Professor of Systems Neuroscience. This promotion reflects the esteem in which Jim is held nationally and internationally, and is also recognition of his excellent work for Leeds.

Congratulations to Sheena Radford in being awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Award in Peptides and Proteins for her "outstanding contributions to the understanding of protein folding mechanisms .."